Rhythm of Rain
by flowerdrops
Summary: Tessa Agnes, a SHEILD agent who was captured by Hydra and becoming an experiment in the hands of Dr. Whitehall. The first enhanced of Hydra, forerunner of the twins. After Whitehall dies she joins the Avengers. Meeting Pietro/Quicksilver on a mission, and immediately struck up a bond. :OC/Pietro:
1. Prologue

**ⅰ. Prologue**

"If you comply, you will be rewarded." The voice whispered.

Her eyes stung with tears, threatening to spill down. The metal contractor that was holding her and her eyes in place was cold, everything was cold, the world was too cold.

"Comply, Agent 37." Senior Bakshee whispered more forcefully. She wavered a little, biting her lip. Bakshee smirked in triumph. It was over. "I comply." She answered without any emotions. Bakshee helped her down from the uncomfortable position she was forced to reside in for a whole two weeks. He walked across the room and picked up a phone while the girl walked a few miles, stretching her limbs.

She watched solemnly as Bakshee spoke into the phone. "Yes, Doctor Whitehall. It is done. Yes, we will wait here for you- You want her in the experiment room? Of course. Coming right away."

He motioned for the girl to follow him.

Down a flight of stairs she found people in white doctors uniform running around. A old man with round glasses walked forward to address them. "What is your name girl?" He demanded of her. "Teressa Agnes." She replied shakily. "Well- Teressa. You will comply with my orders right?" The man then asked, "Because we need to use you as a experiment."

"Yes. Happy to comply."

As the doctors rolled away the heavily drugged girl, Bakshee turned to Whitehall. "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

"I believe that discovery requires experimentation. Remember that." He replied, and walked towards the girl.

 **[-]**

She waked up in a empty white room strapped to a bed. There was nothing in the room except her and this bed, but she was sure that there was a door somewhere, however it was just out of sight. The sheets were soft, tickling her skin. But her body seemed strange, alien.

"Well, I see you are awake." Bakshee walked into the room from a paneled door concealed in the wall carrying a tray with drinks and food and placing it on the girl's knees. "It is my pleasure to inform you that the experimentation has worked very successfully. You are a enhanced now."

The brunette, who was sipping tea chocked and spluttered, "Enhanced?!"

"Yes, you see. I will explain your powers if you would like to listen."

She simply stared at him. So Bakshee took it for him to talk.

"Dr. Whitehall has been experimenting on the enhanced for quite some time before he was totally sure that he was able to create one. And he needed to find a suitable candidate. You, being already through S.H.E.I.L.D's training, with a natural strong mind, you were perfect. But mainly because you are not suitable for enhanced brute force, we've developed something that is just as dangerous. Mind-control. Ability to dive into someones deepest thoughts and tug out there worst fears. But best of all, magic." Bakshee explained while she nibbled on the bread, watching him.

"Magic?" She repeated.

"Magic." He confirmed.

"Witchcraft?" She asked.

"Of the source." He said then he stood up to leave, "You should rest, Agent 37. Your training will begin tomorrow."

 **[-]**

 _Bang!_

She jumped up from her seat. She did not hear intruders but there was defiantly something wrong. Racing out of the library, she ran towards the great hall to see Whitehall stagger and fall on his back, a bullet in his heart.

It was as if someone had crashed a strong bullet-proof glass, revealing the beautiful but equally horrid world. But that was the world that she loved, that she was used to. She felt something new: freedom. From Hydra, from Whitehall, but not from her powers. But maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. She flicked her wrist and appeared on the busy streets of New York. Determined to find the last portion of S.H.E.I.L.D: The Avengers.

Seven hours later, with much teleporting and mind-control, she managed to locate the Avengers hideout. As if you could call it a hideout.

Obviously Stark had payed a few gold nuggets for the hundredth floor mansion. She was stepping forward when she heard a grinding and saw two cannons locked on me.

"Please state you name and business." A male voice spoke.

"I am Teressa Agnes, agent of S.H.E.I.L.D, more commonly known as agent 37. I am here to see the Avengers." She spoke, she was so surprised that her voice was shaky.

The doors slid open. "Welcome, agent Agnes." She stepped forward into the building. Immediately, she heard footsteps and saw a familiar person standing in the shadows. "Agent Hill?" She asked.

"Tessa?"

"Yes, it's me!"


	2. Would You Like A Place To Hide?

ⅱ **. Would You Like a Place to Hide?**

"Good morning Jarvis." Tessa murmurs as she throws back her sheets and climb down her bed. "Good morning Ms. Agnes." JARVIS replies, "I am to tell you that there is a meeting in the breifing room, please report immediately."

Tessa yawned and walked across her room towards an oil painting of a albino peacock on the wall. She placed her hand on the painting, her hand glowing white. Then the wall slid open and revealed another room with dresses, accessories and shoes piled up on dressers. This was actually a joke of Stark's. He thought that as girls liked to dress up, he devoted an entire room for Tessa and Natasha's clothes. But it was quite useful, as seeing how much he loved to host parties.

After she came out of the room with shorts and a simple white t-shirt, she called, "Jarvis?"

"Yes Ms. Agnes?"

"Please inform the others that I'll be there shortly." She said, opening the bedroom door and walking out. "Already done, Ms. Agnes." Jarvis replied.

The war briefing room was actually on the ground floor but Tessa just moved towards the kitchen, wanting to make herself a cup of coffee. She was just stirring her teaspoon in her mug when she realized that there was someone watching her.

"You know, I knew that this was the place in which I will be able to find you."

Tessa whipped around to find Tony staring at her and pointing a teaspoon accusingly at her. She took a sip of coffee and groaned in annoyance, "You wanna meeting before eating- don't call me." "We found Loki's specter." Tony said absently.

"What?!" She asked, surprised, since they hadn't been in much luck for a few months already. "Go suit up." Tony said, waving a hand and shooing her towards the hallways. Tessa stuck out her tongue at him and walked away, still with the cup of coffee in her hands. Tony roles his eyes, that girl just can't get her priorities right.

Steve nearly fainted as he stepped into the weapons room.

Daggers and blades were soaring across the room with white mist floating around them. Tessa was standing in the middle of the room, controlling the blades.

"What are you doing?" Steve yelled, aghast as he saw his shield flying in the air beside a curvy looking sword. Tessa looked around, concentration losing and the weapons clatter to the floor. "Having fun." She giggled, then walked out the room leaving a steaming Captain America in her wake to grab his shield.

"Poor boy." Clint observed while walking past the door.

Tessa jogged over to him. "So, where is the scepter?" She asked as they walked towards the jet, waiting for them on the porch. "In Sokovia." He replied curtly. "Oh, alright." She answered. So much for small talk.

The journey was oddly quite. Natasha and Tessa was whispering up front, and in the back, only Tony was making bad jokes. It was great to step out of the jet into the fight. Although as Tony said, 'We had the element of surprise'

The Hydra soldiers around me was busy bashing each others heads out while white smoke hovering around them. The fight had gone on for at least one hour now, and they almost won. Dozens of Hydra soldiers was lying on the forest floor, moaning in pain and agony.

The Hulk was smashing down machines.

Steve was taking down a car.

Nat was busy kicking ass.

Clint was shooting arrows left and right.

While Stark was nowhere to be seen.

"Should I go in the building? Secure it first?" Tessa shouted into her earpiece. "How the fuck do you think that you will be able to get inside the damn building!" She heard Tony's annoyed voice in response.

"Language!" They heard Steve warn.

Tessa punched a man in the face and burst out laughing. "I can't believe that Captain just said 'Language'." Tony mused. The whole team except Bruce laughed.

"I can teleport in." Tessa said, ignoring Steve's use of words and retorted to Tony.

"Yeah, I know. Come to the base of the building, I'm coming in with you, you're not going in there alone." Tony snarled. "Yeah, like I can't handle these guys." She rolled her eyes while kicking someone in the face.

Two soldiers charged towards her. She vanished and they knocked each other out.

She appeared at the front door of the building. "Come on Tony, get your ass in this building!" She hissed into the earpiece. She could actually hear Steve's groan.

"Why would you want him in the building, _princessa_." A deep male voice with a heavy Russian accent spoke behind Tessa. She spun around to see a boy around her age, with died silver hair and wearing a blue jumpsuit. He also seemed to be a little unresponsive as he stared at her.

Pietro Maximoff didn't believe in angels. Only until he set his eyes on one. And neither did he believe that she was a Avenger.

The angel standing before him had a serious face and green eyes with weird golden specks. Her curly brown hair fell onto her back. She was extremely thin, but it was natural, it didn't look as if she starved herself to look like this, maybe because of the slightly hollowed cheeks made this impression upon him. Which made her look ever more beautiful. He couldn't help but stare, wishing that he didn't need to fight against her.

Wanda walked towards him and laying a hand on his arm.

"What are you doing? She's a Avenger. She's the enemy." She whispered.

"Just looking." Pietro grunted. But shook himself all the same. "Go, find Starks, and make him pay." He told his sister and after she walked away, charged at the girl. She was going to defend herself, but wasn't quick enough.

Pietro tossed her into his arms, bridal style and zoomed away towards the edge of the forest, arriving there in less than a second. He dropped her down on the ground. "Would you like a place to hide?" He mocked. She cocked her head to one side, raising a eyebrow. He thought she was about to attack him but there was a ripple in the air and the girl was gone. "Ugh." He groaned, "Teleporter." Then he ran back into the thick of things, fuming.

"Tessa, where are you?" Tony called into the room, he studied the Hydra scientists that were cowering on the floor. "Come out Tessa! I know you're here."

A giggle came behind a computer screen and Tessa appeared. Tony groaned and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "Found anything?" She asked lightly. "No." He replied, biting his lips. She pointing to the left side of the wall, "There's a secret door there, you know." She stated.

"How do you know these things?" He asked in bewilderment. Pushing at the wall and for it to slide open to reveal a flight of stone steps. "Come on." He motioned to Tessa and she followed him down the stairs.

Pietro growled as he saw this. He did not, however, want to hurt Tessa, but she was with Stark. She was with Stark!

"What is happening to you, Pietro?" His sister inquired. He shook his head, "Nothing." And he turned away. You barely know this girl. He reminded himself. He closed his eyes and forced himself to take deep calming breaths. When he opened his eyes, his infatuation with the girl seemed to have disappeared.

Tessa turned in a circle slowly so that she can take a look on the room.

There was alien artifacts and even a whale-like creature in the vast cavernous depths of this room.

"From the battle of New York." She whispered. Stark nodded in agreement.

And there it was. Sitting in front of both of them surrounded by some kind of laser, was Loki's scepter. Both of them walked forward. Then stopped.

Tessa's mind seemed to have gone slack. A memory was bubbling to resurface. And she couldn't stop it.

 _"Happy to comply."_

 _An old man with white hair pulling on a pair of gloves and picking up a short knife. "Discovery requires experimentation." Tessa seemed to hear._

 _Then she was in her training room back in the Hydra base. It wasn't much, just a big empty room made of concrete. Everyday she'd train with Bakshee. He'd tell her how to keep the power in control and how to use them. It started slow. Just some wooden bricks first, then when she got a bit better, concrete walls, and even full bent on houses._

 _Her mind control she practiced on less fortunate souls. Her teleportation hadn't actually began to work until she was in full control of telekinesis. But there were times that she actually hurt herself in the progress, and others as well. Especially when she began working on teleportation._

 _She often found herself lost in a pathway between fantasy and reality._

 _Thousands of shards of glass shattered against her body, shredding her skin and allowing blood to spill out, tainting her skin. She would find herself drifting aimlessly in space, starring at the stars shining in the deep purple sky, only for one to crash into her body._

 _It wasn't much better when she found herself back into reality._

 _She found scars and dried blood on her body and clothes, and even a burn scar once or twice._

 _And the pain was strong enough to kill her._

 _She saw her life in a movie. Waves crashing onto the rocks in Norway, her home. A man dressed in a black suit that was sent to collect you to train you as a agent at the age of 13. Your little brother clutching her hand as he said goodbye. The first look into the headquarters of S.H.E.I.L.D. Celebrating her 18th birthday with Phil Coulsen, who was her S.A. Being dragged to the Hydra base at age 19. Staying there for two years, training, everyday. Having Bakshee come up with a genius super hero name: the White Sorceress. Watching Whitehall and Strucker having a heated conversation, her eyes glistening from tears as she repeatedly shaking her head, unable to stop. Seeing Whitehall die. Training with Steve and Natasha. Having Clint and you watch a film. Slow dancing with Steve. Laughing with Thor, Bruce and Tony._

It ended as soon as it started. Tessa panted and swayed on the spot, tears seemed to be forming in her eyes.

Tony moved to steady and she clutched at his arm. As he reached forward and taking the scepter.

"The scepter's in our possession. Retreat. I repeat. Retreat." Tessa spoke into her earpiece.

Tony guided Tessa out of the building, but as she turned to take a last look at the place, she thought she saw a pair of intense blue eyes starring at her. Then she closed her eyes and blinked a few times, the eyes were gone.

Pietro turned around to see his sister standing motionless, also starring at Tessa. "What is it Wanda?" He asked. "It- i- it's her, Pietro." She looked in disbelief at Pietro, her eyes wide in (as it seemed) fear, "It's her. It's Teressa Agnes. Hydra's first successful and most powerful enhanced."

"How?" He asked, looking towards the doorway. Feeling quite empty inside.


	3. Strings

**ⅲ. Strings**

Steve put his arms around Tessa's shoulder. "Shh. It's alright, everything's going to be just fine." He whispered, drawing circled on her arms, pulling her closer into his body. She placed her head on his chest, pressing her lips together, not trusting herself to utter a single word. "What happened?" He asked Tony Stark who was the pilot.

"Javis, will you ride for a moment?" He asked. "Yes, Mr. Stark." Jarvis replied. And Tony walked towards both of them.

"There were two enhanced in the field. One of them did something to Tess. I don't think that she'll be okay for the time being. Be kind to her." He told Steve.

Steve only nodded and pressed a kiss on Tessa's forehead. "Ask Maria for the information of the Mutants." He told Natasha and she walked off to the side, pressing a hand on her earpiece and talking quickly into it.

Steve was still holding onto Tessa when they arrived at Avengers headquarters. He hurriedly ran into the listen and poured a cup of hot coco for her, being her favorite and most calming drink whenever she returned into the forbidden forest of her memory lane. She thanked him and took a sip, immediately feeling a lot better. She trailed Steve as he walked towards the lifts. "No, you are not coming with me." He said, putting a hand across her chest. She sighed. Tony, who was also pouring a drink for himself spoke up behind them, "Look, spangles, do you really think that you can stop her?" Steve shook his head and said, "Yeah, okay, get in." He told Tessa.

"So, the report?" Steve asked Agent Hills as the three of them walked towards the row and row of machine guns and equipment.

Maria looked down at her device and opened up a file. "Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, twins, from Sokovia. One of Hydra's experiments-" At this, she glanced sideways at Tessa, who motioned her to go on. "Pietro Maximoff is designed for super speed. Inhuman speed. He just as fast as a bullet. Wanda Maximoff, known in magic, telekineses and mind-control. Similar to Agent Agnes, though powers are not as well developed and somehow lack of practice, the correct kind of practice-" She stall a glance at Steve to see he wasn't totally following.

"He's fast and she's weird." She prompted, rolling her eyes.

"More like he's gorgeous and she's a junior copycat." Tessa muttered under her breath. But Agent Hill seemed to have heard it, as she gave a tiny little cough.

After Steve was out of earshot Maria turned on Tessa. "He's gorgeous? Really? And, might I add, they're both two years older than you."

"And I began training at twelve." Tessa laughed, "And I am telling the truth about Mr. Maximoff." She winked and walked into the lift to find Natasha. Stark was hosting another one of his parties, to celebrate the success of todays mission and even Thor was joining. Since she and Nat shared a closet, no, more of a room of clothes, she usually helped each other out on these occasions.

As she entered Natasha's room, Tessa heard someone behind her. "Hey, little sparrow." Tessa smiled, knowing only Nat and Clint call you that.

She turned around to see Natasha walked towards her, eyes squinted in suspicion. "Are you okay?" She asked. Yes, Natasha was basically a mother to Tessa.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, sitting herself down on Natasha's bed.

"No you're not." By the slight sinking of the bed, Natasha had seated herself next to her, and put a arm around Tessa's shoulder.

"I'm fine."

Natasha faced Tessa and stared into the golden eyes. "No, you're not fine. On the Tessa scale its: Crazy, very happy, happy, good, okay, not very good, bad, depressed _and_ I'm fine. Now, you're gonna tell me what's wrong or I'll call Clint and Stark to annoy you for a whole forty-eight hours."

Seemingly, the threat was too big so Tessa took a deep breath and told Natasha the story. Her life story. Many the Black Widow already knew about, but some it was a horror for her to hear. For example, the experimentations that Hydra had put up for Tessa, and how Bakshee had made Tessa comply... In the end, Tessa was wrapped into Natasha's arms, until she fell into a sleep. Natasha laid her onto the bed and went to check on Barton.

"Wake up, sleeping beauty, time for the party."

Tessa was awaken by the sound of Natasha's voice. She sat up and walked doggedly towards the closet and Natasha trailed behind her.

"Back on the bed, little sparrow. I'll dress you up this time."

 **[-]**

Natasha had got Tessa into a strapless white and golden dress that hugged her curves to the waist and flown out from there to just below her knees. Her golden heels made it extremely hard to walk, never mind dancing. Natasha had put on a minimum of makeup on Tessa's face, claiming that 'there was no need to ruin natural beauty'. Her hair was put in a elaborate bun, inlaid with daisies.

Tessa was on the bed, waiting for Natasha to finish with her makeup.

After Natasha had put down her red lipstick she looked at Tessa. "Well, I can say that cap's going to have a full on eyegasm." She chuckled.

"Stop it!" Tessa protested, and they both walked into the party, with Natasha still teasing.

"So, Agent Teressa Agnes. _The White Sorceress._ With a pretty face like yours, don't you have a boyfriend already?" A rather old couple asked Tessa when she was taking a sip of champaign. And she nearly gagged on the liquid.

A few teenage boys who were drinking shots nearby turned around, looking interested.

At that moment, Steve walked up behind Tessa and put a arm around her waist, pulling her into his body. His other hand holding a glass of vodka. Since he never got drunk, it was quiet shocking. "Hey, babe. Having fun? I'm coming here later, gonna go and have some games with the boys." He slurred and placed a quick kiss on Tessa's forehead.

The couple walked away murmuring and the boys looked away, with rather a look of disappointment in their faces.

"You know," Tessa heard the voice and spun around. Clint Barton was leaning on the wall and looking at Tessa, with a look of amusement in his eyes. "I saw the whole thing." Tessa hid her scarlet face in her drink. "Wow, the White Sorceress does run out of sarcastic comebacks one day." He chuckled.

Tessa rolled her eyes and went to join Dr. Helen Cho.

"So, I dropped the package down at their feet. And 'boom!' and I was like, 'are you looking for this?'" Rhodes recalled to Tessa and Helen then he burst into laughter as if he said something totally witty. Helen gave a little laugh but Tessa just raised a eyebrow.

Sam shook his head in disbelief. "Really, you are as unresponsive as Thor and Stark." Then he walked away.

Tessa looked around the room of dancing people. There was around three hundred people in here but it seemed to be very empty. There was something missing, but she had no idea what.

"So, are you two, like- a thing?" Rhodes asked, connecting Steve and Tessa.

"No, no no no, totally no." They both spluttered, but the team just burst into laughter. "Ah, young love." Clint cooed.

"To Steve and Tessa!" Thor yelled, holding up a glass of Asgardian brew. "To Steve and Tessa!" They roared together. Tessa just buried her face into Steve's chest, making the whole team burst into more noise.

Then Clint laid his eyes on Thor's hammer. "So you say that no one but the rightful king of Asgard will be able to lift this hammer." He asked Thor.

"Ge my guest." Thor offered.

"Might as well." Clint shrugged, his complexion still a little pale from the injury of later today.

Tony wolf-whistled and called, "If you can't do it, don't over-exhaust yourself in your state!" And everyone laughed.

Clint rolled his eyes and grabbed onto Thor's hammer and pulled with all his might. The thing didn't budge. He tried again, nothing. He went back to his seat, looking slightly put down. Natasha put a hand on his back consolingly.

"So you say if one of us succeed, they will be the king of Asgard?" Stark asked. Thor folded his arms and nodded his head. "I'll be a professional politician."

"It's all about the physics." Stark said as he tried to lift the hammer. But it didn't work. Tessa snorted. "I'll be back." He said and coming back with his metallic hand. He tried, and even Rhodes tried along with him, with his metallic hand.

"Are you even trying?" Rhodes groaned. "Are you even on my team?" Tony countered. "Just representing, pull!"

"No." Stark said, thumping back in the seat.

Bruce tried, but being just himself, nothing happened. He roared a few times, also succeeding on nothing.

It just left Captain, Tessa and Nat. Tessa patted Steve's back. "Go on." She whispered. And kissed him on the cheek, "You'll do fine."

He stood up and smiled at Tessa then walked towards the hammer. She saw his muscles contract and the hammer moving slightly. Thor looked impressed and a little panicked. But the hammer moved no more. "Natasha?" Bruce motioned for Nat across the couch. "No no no, that's not a question I need answered." She said. He looked at Tessa.

She bit her lip pretending to look as if she wanted to try, then she shook her head and said, "Nah. I don't think so."

"So the answer is that the one whose who have Thor's fingerprints can lift the hammer." Tony said suggestively.

Thor stood up and lifted up his hammer easily. "Interesting theory, but the simpler one is: you're not worthy."

Suddenly there was a earsplitting creak of engines and the whole team held there hands to their ears. And then they saw, one of Stark's robots, damaged and with not much left, limping into view. "How could you be worthy?" It spoke. "You're all puppets, tangled in... strings." He reached down and grabbed a robot lying on the ground by the head and crushed it with his remaining metal hand.

"When I woke up, I couldn't find a body. I was nothing, just hanging in the air. Then I got the message that my mission was to keep the peace of the world. Now, I knew there was something wrong with that. You Avengers confuse peace with quiet. You want to keep peace in the world, but you don't want it to change." He continued.

"Ultron." Bruce murmured. He and Tony exchanged looks as Tessa squinted her eyes in confusion. "In the flesh." The robot insured, and the wall behind him burst apart with Steve's collection of robots zooming towards them.

It was Sokovia once again. The Avengers, Sam and Maria were all fighting the robots, leaving only Helen defenseless but with Tessa by her side, blocking every attack the robots rained down on their area.

With adrenaline pumping through her veins and too much emotions to bear, Tessa screamed as loud as she could into the fight, "Stop, everyone just stop!"

And in surprise they did, all except the robots who flew towards Tessa.

She held her hands up and the robots started to vibrate and with a clenching of her fist, they all fell into bits and pieces on the ground. There were silence all around, everyone looking at Tessa in awe.

"Well, that was quiet a show." Came Ultron's voice from behind. Thor swung his hammer into the robots' face and it fell to the ground.

Wild robotic laughter rang across the room. "Now I'm free! There are no stings on me." And he was gone.

 **[-]**

With everything that happened to her, Natasha took it upon herself to tuck Tessa in, giving her a quick peck on the cheeks before leaving the room with a concerned Hawkeye looking out from the door.

Once Tessa had climbed into her comfy bed, her eyes slid shut and fell asleep almost immediately.

She was so tired and so wired that she wished that this night she won't have to deal with any dreams at all. Neither good nor bad. But that's the problem with your brain, once you dread dreaming, it always gives you a dream.

Tessa was back in the Hydra's headquarters once more, standing at the doorway watching Strucker and Whitehall talk. But this time, you could actually hear what they said.

"What you are testing is something that I haven't even laid my brain on, Strucker." Whitehall said, "What you are doing is dangerous, but really worth a try. I can help you design a enhanced similar to my Tessa, but nothing else. We are both alike. I believe that you shall succeed. Good luck to you." Strucker nodded his thanks and was escorted away.

Tessa teleported, without any reason to and found herself in the castle of Sokovia where Loki's scepter had laid. But she wasn't in the secret room with the alien artifacts, but in a dungeon. Two concrete rooms where just before her with a see-through panel. There was two kids in there, a boy and a girl, all looking extremely familiar.

Pietro Maximoff with curly brown hair, was zooming around the room, hitting the wall and falling down in pain. Wanda Maximoff was hovering bricks with her telekinesis, although it was obvious both hadn't mastered their abilities yet.

"Wanda!" Pietro called at the concrete wall shielding him from his sister. "Do you think that we'll succeed one day?"

"Of course!" She shouted back. "Of course we will, and we'll be just as powerful as Teressa Agnes. And we'll have our revenge."

Then it came again, teleporting without reason. She arrived at a ballroom, grand and beautiful. But there wasn't anyone there but her. She looked down and realized that she was wearing a beautiful white ball gown, in the same design as the one she wore to Stark's party today. She heard footsteps behind her and spun around. Pietro Maximoff walked towards her, looking absolutely stunning in a suit. "May I have this dance, _printsessa_?" He asked, extending his hand. She took it and he pulled her forward, they waltzed across the room, and Tessa felt so happy, she was glowing. As the two leaned forward to kiss, there was a bang of gunfire and Pietro kneeled down at the ground, his shirt covered with blood.

Tessa screamed in horror. A wave of white mist soared around the room, taking down the building.

Then she woke up panting, a stabbing pain in her chest. _It's just a dream_. She told herself, but what she saw seemed horribly real.

* * *

 **A/N: I only watched the movie once, but I couldn't download it, whenever I tried my computer goes haywire. So until I'm able to watch it twice, I'll correct the mistakes. Sorry btw!**


	4. A Thousand Years

**ⅳ.** **A Thousand Years**

Tessa hopped down her bed and walked groggily towards her desk, opened a draw and pulled out her music player. The walls dividing her and the other Avengers (mainly Natasha) was very thick with something scientific built in the inside so the others wouldn't have to hear Tessa's music. For she was a hardcore heavy metal fan, but from time to time she would listen to something else. Like this time.

As she opened it she could see that Tony had played with it. The only playlist on there was named 'I love Spangles', and who else would call someone 'spangles'? Tessa sighed and randomly selected a song. As it turned out, it was _A Thousand Years_ by _Christina Perri._

 _'Heart beats fast_  
 _Colors and promises_  
 _How to be brave_  
 _How can I love when I'm afraid_  
 _To fall_  
 _But watching you stand alone_  
 _All of my doubt_  
 _Suddenly goes away somehow_

 _One step closer'_

Truthfully, this wasn't a song that Tessa particularly loved, but she liked it nevertheless.

Usually the songs that she listened to reminded her of something, but this song didn't, so she hadn't had much reason to listen to it. But now as she closed her eyes, a shadow was drawing nearer to her, as if it was a dream. And as it walked forward, she saw the white hair of Pietro Maximoff. She shook herself and opened her eyes.

No, this wasn't happening. She wasn't thinking about the quick bastard. Dreaming about that was one thing, but actually thinking about it when she was awake was mostly unacceptable.

 _'I have died every day_  
 _waiting for you_  
 _Darlin' don't be afraid_  
 _I have loved you for a_  
 _Thousand years_  
 _I'll love you for a_  
 _Thousand more'_

Tessa promptly put a stop to the song, since it reminded her of a someone she would rather not think about. Giving this up as a bad job she decided to change and go and find Natasha or Tony or Bruce or someone. Maybe she'll go and chew Tony out for the joke he made on her music player.

The moment she walked into the lab she knew that something was wrong. Scientists were walking around the room, scrolling through files and computers.

"Ah, good. Tessa, you're here." Tony called, seeing her. She walked forward.

"As it seems, Ultron is going through almost every inch of the internet. There are sightings of him everywhere, almost impossible to find an exact location." Maria Hill was reporting to Tony. He then turned to Tessa. "I want you to go and find the two twin mutants. Make sure that Ultron doesn't get his hands on them. Since you're a spy, this is going to be easy." She only nodded.

It was obvious really. He was defending her, providing a distraction. And to say the truth- she was grateful for it.

Grabbing her leather jacket from her room she gulped down some coffee and ran down the hall straight into Steve's arms.

"Where are you going?" He inquired. She decided to lie, since she knew too well that Steve will try to stop her and beat up Tony later. "Running some errands for Tony. Getting breakfast in the meantime." He nodded and allowed her to walk outside.

Once she was standing on the lawn of the Avengers tower, she took a deep breath and disappeared in a wave of mist, appearing from nowhere in the city of Sokovia.

Tessa walked serenely past the shop windows on the streets, but also picking up a cinnamon roll and munching into it, before searching for Ultron/the Maximoffs. It was three hour later when she walked upon a wreckage of a church. Immediately, her suspicions were aroused. It was just out of curiosity but she went in anyway. Instinct told her that she had arrived at the correct place. It wasn't as if she knew Ultron, but she did know about those 'villains', being used by Hydra had its perks. It was pretty obvious that they would seek former grandeur in a place to reside, preferably rubble with history. And this church fitted both these expectations.

She heard robotic movements and concealed herself in the shadows. A tall golden robot walked towards the center of the church and seated himself on the stone chair. A few moments later the main doors banged open and Tessa saw Wanda and Pietro Maximoff walking in, Pietro slightly behind his sister.

Wanda spoke first, confidently. "Talk. And if you are wasting our time-"

"Did you know that this church is in the exact center of the city?" Ultron immediately cut it, "The elders decreed it so they could be equally close to god... I like that, the geometry of belief." He clenched his robotic fist as Wanda walked towards him.

"You're wondering why you can't look inside my head." He stated after a few seconds of silence.

Wanda stared quizzically at Ultron, although, of course she couldn't see him. "Sometimes it's hard. But sooner or later, every man shows himself."

"Oh, I'm sure they do," Ultron stood up as he spoke, the fabric on his shoulders fell to the ground. His stature was that of a titan, powerful and towering over the two enhanced. Wanda's mouth widened slightly and she stepped back slightly towards her brother.

"But you needed something more than a man, that's why you let Stark take the scepter." He continued, stepping down from higher ground.

Wanda squinted her eyes before saying, "I didn't expect... But I saw Starks fear. I knew it would control him, make him self-destruct."

"Everyone creates the thing they dread. Men of peace create engines of war, invaders create Avengers, people create... smaller people, uh," He paused, evidently looking for the right words to say. "Children. Children! Lost the word there. Children designed to supplant them, to help them... end."

"Is that why you've come? To end the Avengers?" Wanda inquired.

"To save the world," Ultron replied immediately, "But also, yeah," He shrugged and sat back down on the chair.

"Everyones point is not to kill them." Pietro interrupted, obviously frustrated. He did not like Ultron, nor did he like the fact that his sister fell in line with him in such a quick pace.

Ultron cocked his robotic head and looked at Pietro. "And make them martyrs? You need patience, need to see the bigger picture." He spoke softly.

"I don't see the big picture. I have a little picture, I take it out and look at it," He paused as he furrowed his thick eyebrows, "Everyday."

"You lost your parents in the bombings," Ultron stated, "I read the records."

"The records are not the picture." Pietro insisted.

Wanda turned to her brother, carefully lacing a hand on his chest. "Pietro," She whispered.

"No, please." Ultron said, inviting Pietro to continue.

Pietro looked at his sister, took a deep breath and began. "We were ten years old, having dinner, the four of us. And the first shell hits two floors below, makes a hole in the floor, it was big. Our parents fell in. The whole building starts coming apart. I grab her, roll under the bed, and the second shell hits, but it doesn't go off. It just sits there in the rubble, three feet away from our faces. And on the shell there was painted one word..."

"Stark." Wanda finished, her voice firm and filled with hate.

Tessa looked away into the shadows. She had known what that felt like. Lying in the rubble, seeing her parents draw their last breath. Her sister shielding her and her little brother with her own body as the bricks fell down from above. And she understood why they had volunteered to become mutants. They wanted to protect their country. They wanted to protect each other.

"We were trapped for two days." Wanda continued, "Every effort there was to save us, every shift in the bricks, I think, this will set it off. We waited two days for Tony Stark to come and kill us."

Pietro turned back to Ultron and nodded his head. "I know what they are."

He then turned to the corner where Tessa was hiding in an instant. "Talking about the Avengers... You really need to come out now, Teressa."

The twins heads snapped towards her as she emerged from the shadows. A twisted leer appeared on Ultron's face as Pietro looked as if Hell has frozen over, and Wanda simply looked confused.

Tessa didn't even seem to give a glance at Ultron as she addressed the words to the twins. "I know what you've been through. And I know how it hurts. But do you think that seeking revenge will help ease the pain? I've tried, and trust me. It's wrong. Maybe you don't see it now."

I know. Everything... It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how would the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?"

But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something."

There's some good in this world... and it's worth fighting for."

Silence followed suite. Until Ultron broke it.

"Wow. That was very illuminating." He mused, "But, I have to say, a war is coming."

"War does not determine who is right - only who is left." Tessa snapped at him.

Ultron raised his hand and a burst of electricity soured across the room and hit Tessa's chest, throwing her into the wall. "Enough of that waffle. You know, before she was free, she was the most powerful and monstrous person in the world. I read the records, and I've come to the decision that I like the monster better. Let's try and call it back, shall we?"

 **[-]**

Tessa woke up with a burning pain in mid-calf. She found herself in a cell-like room. Although the door was made of wood. She walked towards it and the pain was nearly too overwhelming, she doubled over. But really, this was nothing to what Whitehall had done to her.

She spun the handle, but it was locked. She tried to use her powers, but found herself with nothing. She sighed, Wanda must've blocked her powers when she was out.

She moved towards the only window and opened it. Tessa gulped down the fresh air. And without knowing what she was doing, started singing.

 _"Heart beats fast_  
 _Colors and promises_  
 _How to be brave_  
 _How can I love when I'm afraid_  
 _To fall_  
 _But watching you stand alone_  
 _All of my doubt_  
 _Suddenly goes away somehow"_

She rarely sung. The last time it was while singing her little brother to sleep. Her voice seemed harsh and ragged, but with a few verses, her voice turned into something beautiful. One by one, the birds outside stopped singing and stayed quiet.

Pietro walked serenely towards the room where Tessa was confined and turned to open the door. And he stopped.

Her voice issued from the other side of door. And it was beautiful. Then it suddenly stopped.

He turned the key in the lock on pushed open the door. "Here, I got you some water." He stated, walking towards her and handing her the glass of water. "Thanks," She whispered, and looking up at him. His heart seemed to skip a beat but he told himself to stop thinking and walked out of the room.

The door opened once again five minutes later and Ultron walked in, Wanda trailing behind him.

"So... The famous blood-thirsty Teressa Agnes. Look at yourself now..." Ultron cooed at Tessa. "Where has that monster gone?"

Tessa hissed at him. "Just waiting to rip your head off."

Ultron just cackled. "You can never escape your past." Then he turned towards Wanda. "Break her." He ordered.

Wanda stepped forward. Tessa could see the beads of sweat forming on the girl's forehead. Blocking Tessa's powers was already straining her, but she had to do this. So that she can finally have revenge on Tony Stark.

She raised her hands and entered Tessa's mind.

"How much can you take before you crack?" Tessa could hear Ultron say, before she found herself back in her memories.


	5. Darkness on the Edge of Town

**ⅴ. Darkness on the Edge of Town**

 _Hydra rarely gave her missions to do, so she just strolled around the little town and minding her own business. But she always went back at Hydra base to train with Bakshee. He had a lot of firsthand experience of training enhanced (though all but Tessa was born enhanced), so he knew exactly what to do. But trying to make Tessa reveal all of her powers... well, that was rather difficult._

 _Whitehall had reported what he had done to Tessa for better of training her._

 _Telekineses, mind-control, teleportation, ice-manipulation, chaos magic, dream manipulation, memory manipulation, force-field generation, fear inducement, cloaking, healing abilities, empathy and many more that Bakshee had made a list of. One that Tessa had not read thoroughly enough._

 _Telekineses, mind-control and empathy was the three skills that Tessa was able to control with ease. Within three days in she could use them flexibly._

 _But the worst was teleportation and healing. Which brought on bloodshed and pain._

 _When she was trying to teleport, she found herself in a black hole from time to time, finally coming back to earth in a couple of minutes. She sometimes felt herself breaking apart, only to have ruptured her spleen. It was hard, and even though she could use mind-control on others, so could Hydra do on her._

 _On becoming familiar to the town she had roamed for three months, and getting better at mind-control. She had compelled the whole town. Everyone knew what she could do, but was fine with that, and greeted her with eagerness. Which, of course, was the effect that she was looking for._

 _Hydra had given her a lot of subjects to practice on. They were locals grabbed from the town, from little girls to teenage boys._

 _Everyday Tessa was to go back to Hydra's base to her training area and find five to six innocent meat starring at her in silence. She didn't say anything at first, but whispered a sorry every time one of them were lifted up to be_ _tossed outside, nothing left of the poor unfortunate soul. But when time went on, she didn't care how much she hurt people. How she boiled their brains from the inside and leaving them without a breath in their lunges._

 _She had a few friends in Hydra._

 _There was two female scientists there that helped her get through her original shock of being a mutant, and the two stayed with her for most of the days._

 _Annie; who was a short red headed girl with delicate features and a beautiful state of mind. She was such a kind girl, but her father was Hydra and made her join. And Camille; a beautiful french girl who was quite a diva and reminded Tessa of her older sister._

 _Whenever they were all free they would go into town and go and enjoy a refreshing cup of coffee together or go watch a movie. As if they were three normal teenage girls that liked to hang out._

 _They two girls knew Tessa as she truly was, and loved her for it. But after Hydra really got inside her head, they began to worry._

 _Annie will slip into Tessa's room to find her playing with her powers on mice and little animals, watching them suffer as they were smothered by white mist. Camille, who was overseeing Tessa's training, saw Tessa kill the nine-year-old boy without blinking an eye, and even asking Bakshee if there was anymore people to practice on._

 _When they were having coffee in town. Tessa would use her chaos magic to make two man besides them kill each other, and only laughing about it._

 _Then it came, one day, that the girls decided to confront Tessa on her behavior._

 _"So, what do you two want?" Tessa drawled, slipping into the seat next to Annie, taking a sip of expresso and glaring across at them._

 _"Tessa-" Annie started. But Camille seemed to have the decency to cut in, "What the hell is wrong with you?! You killed a four year old innocent little girl yesterday and you just smirked. You butchered a mother and made her children watch as her blood dripped from her body. What has happened to you Tessa? Are you even there?!"_

 _Tessa glared coldly at the both of them. "'What the hell is wrong with me?'" She repeated icily, sarcasm dripping from her mouth. "Well, I don't know what is wrong with me, but as it seems, I've evolved. And if you've got a problem with that-"_

 _"What will you do?" Camille taunted, "Kill us?"_

 _Tessa smirked and called across the counter, "Penny dear, will you come here for a moment?" The waitress walked towards them and asked sweetly, "Yes, Tessa? Is there anything you'd like."_

 _"Yes there is." She glance at her two friends then turned towards the waitress. She made a quick snapping motion with her wrist and the waitress fell to the ground with a thump, lifeless. "If you two want to change me, there really isn't that need. But if you want to try, this won't be the only body lying on the ground." Tessa then stood up and left the two in disbelief and horror._

 _Two months later Tessa had enough of her_ goody-two-shoes _of friends. Annie was made to stare and watch as Tessa made Camille cut open her skin time after time and finally died of blood loss. Then she proceeded to Annie, in which she reached into her friend's chest and tore out her heart without blinking an eye._

 _Her bloodlust and cold-heartedness had led her to wipe out the existence of that tiny town, without leaving a trace of guilt in her heart._

 **[-]**

Wanda pulled herself out of Tessa's memory, shuddering and pale-faced.

"Not pretty, is it?" Tessa asked, consolingly. Wiping a trace of sweat from her forehead. "You know, you really should take a break, you've been inside my mind for hours, Wanda. Too much effort could drain you." The Sokovian nodded and walked out of the room, staggering slightly.

"How did it go?" Ultron asked interestedly as Wanda walked into the science lab.

She furrowed her brows in frustration. "I do not understand," She said. "How come after surfacing from all those brutal murders from her past she still remains to strong and kind. It's as if nothing happened."

"Oh, Wanda, you need not worry." Ultron crooned, "Sooner or later Miss. Agnes will crack." And he pushed open the door of the room in which Tessa was confined in.

The girl was sitting on the hard bed, gazing down on her own outstretched hands. Sweat was running down her pale face and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. She glanced up as she saw Ultron and made a face down at the ground. Ultron only chuckled at Tessa's childishness. Whatever she was putting on, her memories had just jolted her, there was no pretending that it didn't.

"So I suppose that the ripper wasn't let out, was it? Please tell me I'm wrong, I'd love to be wrong." Ultron drawled as he folded his arms around his metal chest.

Tessa glared at Ultron, her eyes had momentarily turned white, with only the golden specks in her eyes showing. But there was nothing that she could do, and the extra strain was taking its toll as her complexion turned white as paper.

With all the sarcasm she could muster (which was a lot), she snarled at Ultron, "Oh, it's alright Ultron, old pal. You're not wrong. Sooner or later I'm going to be on one of my other murdering sprees ASAP. No, but wait- You know, if you were right, I would've ripped your throat out already. So no, you're wrong."

"Well, tell you what- _little sparrow_." Ultron hissed, "I know the rage that drives you. That impossible anger strangling the grief inside you until the memory of your loved ones is just poison in your veins. And one day, you'll catch yourself wishing the person you loved had never existed so you'd be spared your pain."

Tessa hissed at him, much like a angry cat would've. And Ultron walked out of the room, banging the door behind him. And she went back to examining her hands.

It was a full half an hour of Tessa looking down at her hand. The door opened with a creak.

Tessa's head snapped towards it as the silver-headed Sokovian dude edged in the room uncomfortably, holding a tray of food. Tessa hung her head down again while Pietro shuffled towards her and placing the tray on the metal desk.

He starred at the Avenger, sitting on the small bed. It was hard to imagine this girl to be a killer, she was just too... vulnerable. There was around a few minutes of silence, in which Tessa just looked at her hands and of Pietro was lost in his own thoughts, of whether he should talk to her. He decided that he should, so he sat himself next to her on the bed. She looked looked at him, confused.

"Are you okay?" He asked gently.

Tessa couldn't help but smile, touched by this gesture. "Yeah, I'm okay." She answered softly, "You should cheek up on Wanda though. With breaking into my mind plus blocking my powers must be completely tiring."

"She is resting." He shrugged, secretly glad that she decided to talk to him.

"Although," She added. "I do hate having to remember something that I don't want to."

"I'm sorry."

They both lapsed into silence again until Pietro broke it, "So, Tessa, tell me where are you from."

"Too many places to say." Tessa said, giving a small laugh. "So where, exactly? Tell me." Pietro pushed, throwing back his head and leaning back, getting himself relaxed.

"Well," Tessa hesitated, but decided to open herself up to this guy. She couldn't help it, she felt... comfortable and safe with Pietro. "My mother was French and my father was Irish-" "Explains the hint of Irish on your tongue," Pietro chuckled, interrupting. "Oh, I'm sorry, go on." "I grew up in Norway, and I moved to live with my sister later on in Brooklyn."

"You have a sister?" He asked, interested.

Tessa looked at him, "Yes. Her name was Nada. I also had a little brother called Ian."

"And, you went to train at S.H.E.I.L.D at what age?" He asked. Tessa hopped off the bed and faced Pietro, "Talking is too slow, right? Come on I'll show you." She extended her hands to Pietro, he took it and allowed her to pull him up on his feet. They stood, inches away from each other, funnily enough, it didn't seem uncomfortable to either one of them. Tessa closed her eyes and lifted her hands towards his temple, and as they made contact, they both plunged into Tessa's memories.

 **[-]**

Pietro had arrived in a meadow overlooking a cliff with Tessa's hand in his. She released it as soon as they arrived, in which was rather dampening Pietro's spirit. So he decided to look around.

There was a little house set beside a clump of trees in the meadow. The walls of it was painted white and there was a few lavenders poking out of the windows.

 _The doors opened and a young teenage girl walked out of it, trailed by another little girl with brunette hair that looked about seven years old._ Pietro looked at Tessa who was smiling next to him. This wasn't the time but that smile made his heart skip a beat.

"That's Nada." She explained, indicating to the teenage girl. She was pretty alright, but she couldn't be compared to the beautiful creature that was standing next to him. And he could see the resemblance, even though Nada Agnes' hair was black rather than brown. "And that's me." Tessa continued with a little giggle, pointing at the little girl in pigtails.

 _The door opened once again and_ (as what Pietro assumed) _was Tessa's parents walked out, her mother with a baby in her arms and her father carrying two suitcases which he handed to Nada._

 _"If they overwork you in S.H.E.I.L.D I'm so going to have a word with them." Their father said as he gave his eldest daughter a hug._

 _"Dad," Nada said, laughing a little. "I'm a field agent, what do you think? My S.O. makes me run twenty laps around the gym, not including those push-ups and lift-ups and everything." she rolled her eyes and turned to the little Tessa._

 _"Don't go, please." She whispered softly, and Pietro's heart seemed to break a little. "I'm going to be home before you know it." Nada whispered in the same tone and lifted Tessa into her arms and giving her a kiss. "But, I want to go with you." Little Tessa pouted. A stony expression appeared on Nada's face but it was gone as soon as it came. "And you will be, when you're old enough."_

Pietro was dragged away into blinding white light again as he watched Nada waved goodbye to her family by Tessa and reemerged.

They were still in the Agnes's house in Norway but he could sense that the time had gone for many years.

 _A black SUV with S.H.E.I.L.D.'s logo on the side parked on the grass and two girls walked out. Tessa, of course, who was sitting in shotgun and her sister who was but a few minutes later, handling the wheel. Tessa now looked around fifteen. She walked towards the back of the car and unloaded her and her sisters' luggage as the door of their house banged open and a little boy came running towards them._

 _"Naaaadaa! Teesssaaaaa!" He squealed in delight while his chubby legs carried him as fast as they can towards his two older sisters._

 _He flew into Tessa's outstretched arms and giggled as she kissed him on the forehead. "How are you, little man?" She asked softly. "I'm fine." Her little brother giggled as he softly squirmed out of Tessa's grip and ran towards Nada. And after a while, the three of them entered back into the house, all laughing._

"I think it's time for us to go too." Tessa whispered. She turned away from him, but he saw a tear sliding down her cheek and only nodded, not knowing what to do.


	6. The Downward Spiral

**ⅵ. The Downward Spiral**

"She's been gone twenty-four hours!" Steve roared, pacing around the living room and steaming, "We don't know what he's done to her! What happened?! We don't even know if she's alive or not!" He buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking in the effort of not letting in his fears for Tessa's life.

Natasha walked towards them and placed a hand consolingly on his shoulder. "Hey, Tessa's tough. She'll be fine."

He looked down at Tessa with a stricken expression on her face, water welling up in his blue eyes. "You don't know that! We don't know that! What if- What if..."

"No!" Natasha said forcefully. She lead Steve to sit down on the couch and left to check up of Tony for any new leads on Ultron's location. "Found him yet?" She asked, "If you don't come around in finding him, I think Steve's going to break."

Tony looked across the living room towards Steve who was looking morosely towards the blank wall. If he wasn't in this state, he would've teased him, but Tessa was important to everyone in the Avengers tower, they all loved her. And the fact that Ultron had given them an note that Tessa was with him, everyone got panicked.

Steve mentally began freaking out at least once an hour. Tessa stood her ground, but shaken. Bruce lumbered off to listen to music. And Clint went away to make a call. And Tony and Maria went straight to trying to find Ultron and Tessa.

"Both yes, and no." He answered, strolling across his lab. "We've found traces of Ultron everywhere; he's been strolling across the internet, collecting every piece of information. There's no chance that we can pin out where exactly he is."

Natasha glared at him, before walking out of the lab and sat next to Steve.

The passing three hours were agony. And then Tony was storming into the room, shouting for everyone to suit up.

Steve nearly ended the life of the mahogany table as he threw himself in his room to change and practically flew into the jet. All the while murmuring, "Tessa Tessa, hang in there. We're coming."

 **[-]**

Ultron was furious. Tessa simply refused to crack.

"You can never escape your past." He told her that morning at the crack of dawn, when Tessa had, once again, relived her past. "I know," She countered, but he also noticed that her voice was getting weak, "But I'll never stop running."

"Are you always a smart ass?" Ultron asked, having enough of Tessa's sass.

"Nope," She replied with a little smirk. "Sometimes I'm asleep." And she enjoyed it as Ultron groaned, close to losing his cool.

He paced up and down the stone-flagged floor, stopping, to face Tessa after his fifth circulation. "You could rattle the stars. You could do anything, if you only dared. And deep down, you know it too, and that's what scares you the most." And he was gone.

But the door opened rather soon to reveal Wanda.

"I thought the workout session was over." Tessa spoke mildly.

The Sokovian walked across the room and starred at Tessa. The latter felt quiet uncomfortable and fell against the mattress with a loud thump.

"Whadeuwan?" She slurred, glancing at the ceiling in which the lightbulb was flickering feebly.

"Answers." Wanda replied curtly, tapping her fingers on her folded arms.

Tessa rolled her eyes. She should've known this was going to happen. "Then give me the questions and I'll tell you what I can be able to give you." She said, her jaw set, teeth clenched and eyes squeezed closed.

"Look, why do you even trust Tony Stark?" Wanda asked bluntly.

Tessa sat up immediately, looking at Wanda with disbelief in her face. "You're so naïve." She spat out, then fell back on the bed again. "No I'm not!" She yelled in outrage, clearly upset of Tessa calling her a child.

"Do you actually think it's that easy? The concept of revenge?" Tessa asked, sitting up once again and starring Wanda down. "You can never have peace after your revenge. It doesn't stop. Your life will turn to hell. You'll regret your choice while your need for more revenge build inside you and start to burst out. It doesn't do any good to you."

"It is not revenge that I look for. It is justice." Wanda spoke coldly.

Tessa scoffed. "Don't seek revenge and call it justice. But I'm not surprised that you fooled yourself into believing that. Naturally, the truth is what we make it. I could set this world on fire and call it rain."

Wanda raised her hands, but the door flew open and Pietro's head stuck out of the door.

"We're going to- Wanda! What are you doing?" He asked, looking between the two girls. Tessa's calm but forceful demeanor and Wanda's rage. His sister dropped her hands. "I'm sorry," She murmured and walked out of the room.

"Ultron asked you to come too." Pietro called to Tessa. She stood up and followed Wanda.

 **[-]**

The salvage yard on the African was a desolate and barren face. Stationary ships littered the area and in one of them was something valuable to Ultron. Well, he was constantly telling Tessa about how important this is to his plan of killing her friends. It was getting quite tiresome.

He had kept Tessa next to him instead of the twins, because he told them to be terrifying the guy called Kluae and Tessa would not help.

"Well, Kluae is not cooperating," Ultron informed Tessa. "Big surprise," She whispered.

He caught her shoulder and lifted her into the building. Seconds later Kluae was thrown to the ground.

"All right," Ultron said, backing the poor man up. "Let's talk business."

Kluae lead the four of them to a secret compartment where barrels of toxic chemicals were hidden. The barrels lowered to reveal vibranium. "On this rock I will build my church. Vibranium," Ultron held the vibranium in his hands, and then tossed it to Pietro to hold.

"It's worth billions." Kluae told Ultron, rubbing a mark on his neck and looking at him.

"And so are you," said Ultron, typing into a device and sending out billions of bucks to the guy, "It's all under your dummy holdings. Finance is so weird. But I always say keep your friends rich and your enemies richer and wait to see which is which.

"Stark." Kluae whispered.

"What?"

Kluae turned to Ultron and muttered a few things under his breath. Ultron seemed to glow red in rage."Tony Stark used to say that to me. You're one of his!"

"What," Ultron spat, holding Kluae up by his arm. "I'm not- I am not. You think me as one of Starks' puppets, his hollow men. Look at me, do I look like iron man?!" He lifted his arms and cut down Kluae's arm.

"Well, to say the truth, you do." Tessa cut in from behind as Kluae looked up at Ultron in horror, his face white with pain.

Ultron turned to Tessa for a moment to hiss, "Not helping Tessa. Not helping." Then to Kluae he shouted, "I'm sorry- Ooh, I'm sorry. I'm sure that it's going to be okay. I'm sorry, it's just that I don't know how this is working. Don't compare me with Stark! Stark is- he's a illness."

Tessa looked behind her to see Tony in his suit, Thor and Steve dropping down on the ground on the catwalk.

"Awww, junior. You're going to break your old mans heart." Tony said as if he was mortally offended.

Ultron stepped forward and answered seriously, "If I had to." Tessa wobbled forward, trying to get to her teammates, but Pietro put a hand on her shoulder. "Get your hands of her!" Steve shouted at him.

"You don't need to break anything." Thor suggested.

"Clearly you haven't made an omelette." Ultron replied. Oh seriously, he had Tony's DNA in him.

As said, Tony replied. "He beat me by one second."

Tessa shivered and even though she didn't want to, drew herself near Pietro. "You cold, printsessa?" He whispered so no one but Tessa could hear. "Here." He took off his jacket and threw it on her. She smiled a little at him for thanks and leaned at the railing.

"Ah, so this is funny, Mr. Stark." Pietro said in a mocking voice, walking forward but still holding onto Tessa. "More comfortable. Just like old times." He looked down at the missiles in the dark.

"This was never my life," Tony said, with a edge of bitterness. As if he was trying to steel himself.

Steve interjected, "You two can still walk out of this."

"Oh, we will." Wanda assured him. Tessa thought she knew what she meant.

"I know you've suffered-" Steve started, but Ultron overrode him. "Captain America, Gods righteous man. Pretending you can live without a war. I can't physically throw up in my mouth but-"

"If you believe in peace then let us keep it." Thor boomed.

"I think you're confusing peace with quiet." Ultron corrected.

Tony said, "Uh-huh. So what's the vibranium about?"

"I'm glad you asked that, because I wanted to take the time to explain about my evil plan," Ultron mocked, in an instance he had blasted Tony up against the wall and the two took their fight to the air.

Tessa stepped forward but before she could do anything, Pietro had zoomed her away on let her sit down on a scrap of metal. "Stay here, printsesa." And before she could protest, he was gone.

"Ooh, damn." She muttered.

"Language." Someone said from beside her. She jumped to see Clint smiling down at her. "Good, you just stay safe." And he ran away, notching an arrow in his bow.

"Ugh."


End file.
